In 2015 I put together a script/photo booklet, NEARLY FIFTY, described below “

HISTORY

(From Play is where Life is by Tom Parham)

Wilsonians provided me with a lot of laughs. I guess it’s just out there, but Wilson I think is special in the humor world. No one was better than Stephen Earl “Country” Boykin.

Our best joint venture was the “River Trip”. It began with a new event in 1967: The Super Bowl. We hosted clients of Earl’s Sportsville Sporting Goods Store at Happy Valley Golf course. We held the beer blast in the “Sugar Shack”in the middle of the course. Mostly coaches from Wilson, only one got arrested. He drove his Pontiac up the downtown Courthouse steps.

In 1968 Earl bought a “camp”to duck hunt. It was located on Back Creek, near rural Bath, NC.

We held the “River Trip” there for about a dozen years. Then we moved to my beach house at Emerald Isle, NC. We have run over one duck, as far as duck huntng goes. The appendix-Summarizes some highlights. We don’t want you to know everything but this s”chronology” will give you the “gist”.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q60VoF0_lvL51ZP_aIbgPf2QJfzFdC3X/view

Most of us were from Wilson, NC , home of Atlantic Christian College, now Barton College. And from eastern NC. Barton recently posted THE BARTON PROJECT which similarly recalls the “neighborhood” from 1960 until 2024.

“The Barton Project” is available through Hackney Library’s Special Collections. For access or more information, visit https://barton.libguides.com/special_collections/home or reach out to technology and grants librarian Naija Speight at nispeight@barton.edu. 

Phillips Seafoood ( Swansboro, NC ) has a sign in the front window: “Local As It Gets”!